Monday, 29 September 2014

When I worked in summer 1998 at a vineyard in Alsace, I remember there being a bottle of German Riesling in the kitchen fridge at the winery that lay untouched for weeks. On asking about it, the reply was, "Les rieslings allemands sont trop doux" ("German Rieslings are too sweet"). Certain stereotypes are hard to shake off, I guess – not least in a country resolutely convinced of its superiority in all things wine-related. The irony that Alsace wines are often anything but dry was not lost on me even back then. The bottle in that fridge was a Riesling Kabinett from the following winery. Sixteen years on, I wonder what Family Ginglinger would make of this:

Weingut Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, Scharzhofberger Riesling Kabinett feinherb 2013, Mosel
With 9.5 percent alcohol. Straw-yellow with a greenish hue. Reticent at first but then gradually opening up to show lovely clean fruit (mostly Granny Smith with peachy suggestions) and hard, cold slate. More slightly tart apple on the palate, followed by yellower stone fruit as well as darker hints generating a certain sense of sweetness. This is held in check by pointed acidity, which in turn is moderated by a pleasant silkiness lending elegance and complexity. The finish is dry and absolutely refreshing.

This wine's constituents are in great balance. Its energetic core of acidity lends a mouthwatering quality and makes me forget that this wine isn't analytically "trocken" (i.e. under 9 grams per litre of residual sweetness) by a long, long way.

And there we have it: my first ever Scharzhofberger! Egon Müller-Scharzhof is slightly beyond my modest means ...